Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a potentially great business venture . Like a fool I waited for him an extra day. I wasn't
interested in his rather selfish, one-sided proposal where I put up the boat and all the risks,
and he took all the profits.
The following day a vicious northerly wind blew into the exposed harbor and it became a
lee shore washing machine. Boats were rocking and rolling and breaking free all night. I
was up the entire night fending my boat off huge, black tractor tires against the wharf walls.
I had mooring lines snaked all over the place. Déjà vu looked like Charlotte in her spider's
web.
In the morning when I was forced to relocate, I misjudged the maneuver and fetched hard
up against somebody's boat. I smashed my taffrail and shattered the glass on my solar pan-
el. There was no damage done to his boat, but the jackass squealed like a stuck pig. That
morning I went down to the immigration office and cleared the hell out. I was in a mood
and wanted to be gone. It was a dreadfully messy departure with Chinese jibes going out
the harbor and the two main and jib halyards fouling around the deck light in the front of
the mast. I was last seen swinging wildly halfway up the mast as I hung on to the fouled
halyards for dear life, the boom jibing this way and that. I cringed as I knew there had to
have been someone watching and laughing.
I eventually undid the halyard mess on the mast, only I had utterly lost my temper with both
Murphy and Déjà vu. This time I knew positively that they were in cahoots, and I verbally
lashed them until my throat hurt. Déjà vu answered by way of smacking me on the head
with the self-steering vane. She could be such a bitch!
West-northwest trades finally arrived after a few days of sulking around the boat and this
brought good sailing as well. We were making good time at last; the sailing motion was
made a lot easier as the trades calmed the tropical ocean. It was warm again, and I had
no worries. I was heading up to Aitutaki, still part of the Cook Islands. I had received a
postcard from Lynne and Terry on Olivia from Aitutaki; they were having a great time and
recommended I go there. To pass the time I had my fishing line out, as I usually did, as well
as my ever present ski-rope man overboard safety line in case I fell over the side. I have
heard of so many people, mainly guys, sailing solo or with crew that have fallen over the
side while relieving themselves. I have had one or two close calls myself. That is why my
little ski-rope bobs along our merry little wake with the little plastic bottle tied to it.
I tied a belt to my guitar and stood in the cabin simulating a guitarist in a band. It felt good!
I started learning to play the blues again after an absence of some twenty years. I was ba-
sically starting all over from scratch, as I had a very rusty memory of the blues scales. Ted
Greene's book was helping me get a grip on the theory and scales of jazz and blues.
